Daily rantings of a man dealing with cancer and life in general, advice and encouragement in staying positive, gaining respect and being remembered as being a good person who brought happiness to others. Big Hugs. XXX

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Over the last few days.

I am a bit slow to up-date the blog due to feeling a bit tired and generally feeling in a lot of pain.

Thursday saw Norma and I traveling up to Preston for my PET scan (see footnote about scans later).

Journey was fine easy to get to hospital quite central really.

The suit in the hospital is very plush, friendly staff, big TV, free drinks.

So the PET scan process, you are taken into a private ward, just you and the nurse, you are injected with a radioactive mix by the nurse, who then stands well back and informs you that they will be back in an hour, I played and my mp3 player and just dozed.

The nurse returned about an hour later, I was now ready to go into the PET scanner, at this time I noticed that all area's were clear of people, the nurse keeps her distance very little contact, I understand why, if you work with radioactive substances, some of it must linger, so the less contact you have with the patent's the less chance you have of becoming ill or infertile.

You lay down on the bed area then into the machine you go, I will write later on about scanning machines.

After the scan is over you go back get changed pick up a drink and head home.

Oh! some things I could not do, sit down on the seats in reception (only the purple seats) not allowed within a meter of other humans, no children sat on my lap, steer well clear of pregnant ladies etc. all this for a minimum of 24 hours.

On Friday, I nipped into work for a couple of hours to do a bit of admin, in a part of the building away from humans, then on the bus up to North Manchester General Hospital for my MRI scan, this is the second MRI scan I have had here as the first one only looked at my colon, now my liver and lungs are being investigated.

Norma was not with me as we thought this would be OK as it would be just a quick scan.

The nurse informed me that I would have to be injected with a dye that will enhance the images being taken, having been injected in both elbows the day before, my veins did not want to play, so after a few attempts I ended up being injected through the fleshy part between the thumb and finger, it was sore and I normally can stand pain.

Scan went OK, I got dressed then left to get the bus. From then on things get a bit hazy, I was on at least 3 buses, some going the wrong way and so I have been told by one of my neighbors that I was quite 'out of it'. To be honest how I got home I do not have a clue, I even visited B&Q and bought some goods, how I did it I have not a clue.

Since getting home I have slept a lot in naps lasting a couple of hours but not really getting a full nights sleep, I am getting used to this now. I have been in a lot of pain and generally fed up with myself.

I as yet have no appointment to see my consultant (Cancer Crew) but am sure that they will be calling me during the week.

Scans. My second cousin is going through a bad time at the moment, she is only a young lady with a 4yo. On Friday while I was having my scan she was having hers and we have spoken about our experiences, so with this in mind let me tell you about the different scanners.

PET / MRI scanners, these are big machines which your full body is enclosed within, both ends remain open but you very enclosed. In both our cases we were strapped down with things holding you still, some people may find this very frightening, they are also very noisy.

CT scanners, just like a polo mint, not very deep, you can see all around you, hardly feel enclosed at all.